There are some things which cannot be learned, though they can be studied. Among them are the laws of art—and the lawlessness of it, as well.

- Josef Von Sternberg

A shaft of white light used properly can be far more effective than all the color in the world used indiscriminately.

- Josef Von Sternberg

Shadow conceals—light reveals. To know what to reveal and what to conceal, and in what degrees to do this, is all there is to art.

- Josef Von Sternberg

The only way to succeed is to make people hate you. That way they remember you.

- Josef Von Sternberg

The finished product is not finished when the actor is. The work is completed by a pair of shears.

- Josef Von Sternberg

Every light has a point where it is brightest and a point toward which it wanders to lose itself completely. It must be intercepted to fulfill its mi…

- Josef Von Sternberg